The Opelousas courier., 1887-07-23
EASTER ISLAND.
A Curious Spot in the South
Pacific Ocean.
Its Many Strange Images, Villages of
Some Huts and Present Inhabitants.

vi I'LL LAt ISlaluS Ul Luc OOuIi eCih'
Ocean, that of r ,pa-Nui, o. Easter Isl
and, as it is generally called, is perhaps
the most curious and interesting, on &C
count of the mysterious origin and his
tory ofits former inhabitants, and thu
sculpturcd rocks and stone images which
they have left scattered in great num-
| bers ever the island. It has been known
since 1921, when the navigator Ragge
vein discovered it on Easter Sunday o
that year, and SO appropriately named
it in commemoration of the discovery
Captain Cook visited it about the yea
1772, and it is said he found twenty
thousand inhabitants there. The island
is about thirty miles in circumference.
It has a remarkable isolation, being
1000 miles from the coast OF Chill and
1900 from any other inhabited island
except Pitcairn, which is comparatively
barren and desolate.
Thus, on account of its situation, the
origin of its people is an chronological
question which, so far, scientists have
been unable to explala, and the only
light on which is to be found in the
native traditions. Some who have not
visited the island believe it to be the re-
mains Of a submerged continent. Such
a theory, however, is undoubtedly in
correct, as it is of Enthusiastically volcanic
origin. There is a large extinct crater
on each end of the island, and numer-
Gus small ones between, the grouni be-
ing thickly covered with black volcanic
rock and obsidian in the western portion.
The largest of these volcanoes is named
Rauo Kao; it is over 1900 feet high, en-
closing a fresh water lake nearly three
miles in circumference, the surface of
which is partially covered with vegetable
matter over which a man may walk in
places. The second one in sizs is -ex-
tremely interesting on account OF its be-
ing the place where the stone images
were made from lava rock, o great num-
Der of which still remain, some unfinished
and attached to the precipitous cliffs.
An enormous number of these images
are scattered all over the island,
while there arc SO inside and 155 i'm
mediately outside the crater. They are
in solid pieces varying from five to sew
enty feet in height. The workmanship
is extremely crude, and in appearance
they are decidedly unattractivc. The
human body is represented terminating
at the hips; the head is flat, the top of
the forehead cut level so az to support a
crown cut from red tufa found in one of
the smaller craters. They were trans
ported to villages near the sea, and placed
upon stone platforms constructed in va
rious heights and different lengths, fac-
ing the water. One of these platforms
supported thirteen of these immense i'm
ages, and all of those examined con-
tanned human bones, showing it to bc a
place of burial. Each of :hesc many
images has a separate name, but they
were never idols. Mono of these remain
upon the platform in stu, as it was the
of conquering clans to upset those
of the v~anquished. Of these platforms
113 have been counted. On a precipice
overlooking tie sea is a village of ancient
stone huts, where, it is sal |, the natives
lived only during a portion of the year.
Near by are also sculptur ed rocks, COW
cred with curious and extremely inter-
carvings.
The first king, Hoti Metua, after land!
upon the island, named it 'Fe pito
Heuna"-the land in the middle of the
leep. And Rapa-Nui is the name given
it by the natives of Tahiti. At the
present time there are but $50 natives re-
naming on the island. In appearance
hey seem to be the degenerate Amains
If q race something like the Maoris of
,,I1ew Zealand, and they speak a language
to those people. Although un-
ioubtedly a cannibal race-in fact, one
I'D man speaks with enthusiasm when
lsked regarding the custom-they are at
present quiet and enlightened, but retain
many superstitious ideas which they have
eceived by transmission. They veneratc
small sea-bird, the egg of which is sa-
red to them, and their season of feast
begins in August, when the first eggs of
hese birds are taken from two barren
near the cliffs. Men and youths
win to these rocks, and the one who
irst secures an egg is held in high esteem,
md he lords it over the others
or twelve months, his food being
furnished him, and he is not per.
nitted to battle for three, months. To
ZEE the natives one would imagine every
nan, woman, and mothers child had
reformed the successful feat the last
east-time, so dirty they are. The last
ling was Kai Makor, who died about
1854. when Peruvian ships visited the
sland, and q number of TIE natives were
eized and taken to work the gua,.o on
he Chincha Islands, where the greater
lumber died. A few were finally sent
and they brought with them small
OK, which caused great havoc and nearly